Kyrgyzstan - Land of Lakes and Horses

After stocking up with fresh supplies at a large supermarket in Osh, we were glad to hit the road again. We were heading to Song-Kul, a high altitude lake ringed by mountains further north of Kyrgyzstan, which would take us two days driving to reach.

We have been asked how we go about planning and navigating our routes on this trip. We’re not terribly good at forward planning in detail, but we have an overall route in our mind and tend to work out the detailed plan once we’re in the country. Although we are on an open ended trip, we sometimes have dates that have to be met e.g. our guided tour in Turkmenistan in May, and now our transfers through China. Our next deadline is to be at the Kazakhstan border with China in 2nd August to transit to Mongolia.

Colin has been using Guru Maps for navigation which we can use offline and they take account of Lolly’s dimensions (height and weight). Alongside that, I put the routes on Google Maps and we compare what they are telling us as we go. Google maps haven’t been great in Central Asia - they are not up to date so we have many times been directed down roads that no longer exist and they also do not pick up many gravel roads even though they are the main routes to places. You also cannot put vehicle height and weight into Google so many a time find ourselves facing a bridge with a lower height clearance than us.

We use apps to find out places overlanders have parked and visited. In Europe Park4Night was useful, but as we got further East iOverlander is much more useful. Travellers log parking places, up to date road conditions, restaurants, petrol stations, where to get water, and mechanics to name a few. Obviously the best information comes from the fellow travellers we meet on the road. We follow many of the people we have met on Instagram, Polarsteps and websites and we try to keep our social media up to date with details of where we have visited and stayed.

The route out of Osh took us through some dry agricultural scenery reminiscent of the UK after a long hot summer. They were already cutting crops. There were horses everywhere, many being transported in trailers.

After discovering the road over a pass we had planned to take was closed after a landslide, we found ourselves on a new road (not shown on Google Maps) with beautiful smooth tarmac and the scenery became greener and more mountainous. We passed through a newly opened tunnel - no potholes, well lit and good ventilation! We passed through the small town of Kyzart where we had considered doing a two day horse trek over the mountains to Song Kul, but with rain forecast the next couple of days we decided we would arrange a horse trek when we got to the lake.

We parked for the night in a scenic spot overlooking the river. It was a popular viewpoint and we had a steady stream of locals stopping by, asking us where we were from and taking photos of Lolly. We rescind our previous comments that Kyrgyzstan people are not so friendly.

The lovely road continued the following day and the rock colours and formations were beautiful. We’re not sure the good road condition will last very long though - there were already many rock falls on the new tarmac. We drove past lots of ornate cemeteries next to the road.

We were heading to a town called Kochkor to overnight before heading to the lake, and noticed on iOverlander that there was a disused salt mine we could visit 15km before the town. The salt mine has been turned into a sanatorium health resort, treating respiratory conditions which the clean, dry and mineral rich air in the salt mine is supposed to be good for. We had to pay to look around. There are beds in some of the rooms and we read you can stay in the mine, but having read some reviews it seems you actually sleep in buildings outside the mine. It was quite fascinating to look round though.

We drive on to Kochkor and called in at a cafe for a coffee and ended up having a late lunch in there. There were several other sets of European backpackers who had come here for hiking options. It rained quite heavily with thunder and lightning while we were in the cafe.

Next we called in at a place to change our oil. Colin was worried that our oil level was too high due to the anti pollution cleaning process that was triggering after our catalytic converter was removed on the Pamir Highway. With no catalytic converter to clean, the diesel is going into the engine and could cause serious damage long term. He asked the oil mechanic to change the oil and to keep the level low to give us a bit of leeway.

We then went to park next to a river just outside the town, but the track was very soft and muddy and as we started to sink we had to reverse back out quickly. We ended up parking outside a disused supermarket in town - a good decision as there was more heavy rain through the night.

The following day we set off to Song- Kul lake. We decided to take the longer route to the southern side of the lake which read as being less touristy.

Song-Kul Lake is one of the highlights of Kyrgyzstan. It’s set at 3,016m above sea level and is around 270 km², making it the country’s largest freshwater lake.

What makes Song-Kul special is not just the lake itself, but the surrounding summer pastures. During summer, Kyrgyz nomadic families bring their horses, sheep and cattle here, living in traditional yurts and it is one of the best places in Central Asia to experience authentic nomadic culture.

Once we turned off the main highway we were straight onto gravel roads that weren’t in too bad condition, but there had been a large landslide recently and the road diverted up a steep narrow track which continued to climb steeply up the valley overlooking a large coal mine. Once over the top of the pass the landscape opened up and we drove past lots of yurt settlements where children ran to the road as they saw us approaching.

It was a breath taking moment when finally the deep blue of the lake stretched out in front of us with snow capped mountains as the backdrop on the north side of the lake. There were horses, cattle and sheep in all directions.

We made our way to a small family run yurt camp near the shore called Kambar Ata that had been well reviewed for its friendly owners and a good place to organise a horse ride from. They had 4 or 5 nice looking yurts and a dining yurt. The owners weren’t there when we arrived, but we were told we could park up and sleep in Lolly and they could arrange the horse riding in the morning. They didn’t seem to have other guests so we said we wouldn’t need dinner, but we’d take their breakfast in the morning. We had a walk down to the water’s edge. It was so tranquil and peaceful - just beautiful. The star gazing at the lake is supposed to be amazing, but with all the fresh air we were soon asleep.

We were given a good tasty breakfast and we managed to follow the final ten minutes of the England v Mexico match - we’re glad we didn’t have the stress of watching the whole game.

We saw two horses tethered up outside who were to be our trusty steeds for the next two hours. Our guide was an older guy and the young son of the family sat behind him. We were also accompanied by their two shepherd dogs. We enjoyed a beautiful 2 hours trekking around, up towards the surrounding hills and with the lake always in site. The young boy and guide spoke no English but they chatted happily with each other while we absorbed the beautiful views, fresh air and the sound of silence - no vehicle noise or even birdsong. A lovely experience.

Back at the yurt camp we were offered horses milk that we declined - having tried it in Osh we had not been won over by it.

We decided to move a bit further along the south shore for a change of view. We got our gravel bikes out to have a spin up the rough gravel road. It was quite hard work having to concentrate on missing the potholes. We came to a yurt camp where they were doing refreshments but they didn’t do the cup of green tea we were hoping for, so we had to make do with an iced tea. The sky had become dramatically dark and there was rain in the air as we headed back. It just about held off until we got back to Lolly. While we were packing the bikes away, a policeman told Colin we needed to move Lolly to a different spot nearer the tourist yurt camp we were next to. We knew there is a rule you shouldn’t park within 100m of the lake, but he just said he wanted us off the grassy area.

Lolly was covered inside and out with flying insects - we think they were non- biting midges, but they didn’t entice us to sit outside.

The following day we set off planning to get to another of Kyrgyzstan's famous lakes - Issyk Kul.

We took a different road out that took us over the spectacular 3,150m Moldo Pass. The views down to the Naryn Valley were stunning and the site of the steep gravel road snaking down into Alpine-like scenery was incredible. As we got further down we saw our first fat bottomed sheep. These are traditional in Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia and the large “bottom” isn’t actually obesity—it’s a fat reserve, similar to a camel’s hump. The sheep store energy there to survive long winters and periods when grazing is poor. The bottom fat is also prized in Central Asian cooking. They do look pretty comical though.

After loving the drive from the lake, once we joined the ‘paved’ road to Naryn it became painful with potholes galore and dusty patches where roadworks were taking place.

We called in at the town of Naryn where we visited a cafe for a coffee and lunch. Colin was also concerned our oil level was too high again and he found a place that could siphon off some oil without needing a full replacement. They kindly wouldn’t accept payment.

The road out of Naryn was also a dusty mess, but as we approached Kochkor again, the evening light on the hills was beautiful. Realising that it would be a push to reach Issyk Kul before dark, we ended up parked up at the abandoned supermarket for a second time.